Star Sage
by Driver Jim Ohki
Summary: At the end of the Yuki no Kuni conflict, Naruto falls through the ice. At the same time, SG1 happens to be on world inside the glacier. General Mayhem ensues, The history of the Bijuu retold. No pairings (yet). Eventual Godlike!Naruto.
1. Part One

Disclaimer: I make no claims at ownership of any copyrighted characters, places or events used herein. The only thing I make a claim to is this fic, which originated in my head and any original characters created by me herein. The following was made for public consumption at zero profit, and is not for sale except to the owning companies. Yes, I dream big.

_**SPECIAL NOTES**_: This story is an exercise in imagination, and as such is not part of my rotation. I'll be using it as a placeholder/break to give me time to think about where my other works are going. There will be instances of Adult Material within -this is Naruto, a ninja-world where people die and prisoners are subject to in-the-field procedures. If you find this offensive please use your browser's BACK feature and find something else to read. This is your only warning in this regard . . .

_**ALTERNATE TIMELINE/UNIVERSE WARNING**_: Because mid to late teenagers are more in touch with reality -when they stop substituting their own, at any rate- than pre/early teens, I have advanced canon by three years while holding to events. This means the Rookie Nine (Naruto's Class) are FIFTEEN while Team Gai is SIXTEEN. I'm of the belief that it's too much to ask for with a younger ninja-child to take their profession seriously . . . no matter who the Sensei is.

_**The Question:**_ What would happen if Naruto stumbled upon a Stargate under Yuki no Kuni while the ice was being melted?

Star Sage by: (Driver) Jim Ohki

_**Under-ice Cavern, PX9-190**_

"Ice with a ninety percent chance of a dead planet," Jack O'Neill grumbled, taking his surroundings. Or rather, the lack of as the frozen water surrounded them on all sides. The group of explorers knew they were near the surface as filtered sunlight gave minor illumination. Fissures in the ice allowed air to flow from above, preventing excessive build-up of carbon monoxide and dioxide.

"You know that's not _completely_ true Jack," Daniel Jackson sniffed, ruining his argument as the cold air interacted with his allergies. "This planet just hasn't been explored in ten thousand or so years. We wouldn't even be looking into the place if McKay hadn't found the address in the Atlantis database. The Ancients were doing something on this world that required them to 'forget' about it."

"Yeah, yeah," the General paid no attention to his resident bookworm, instead turning to his old Second in Command . . . and resident bookworm. _'Good thing Teal'c is around otherwise I'd feel stupid.'_

Whatever question he was going to ask, complete with a request for the answer to be dumbed-down, never left his mouth as the cave they were in began to shake. The four glanced around in worry, especially at the ceiling to insure they weren't about to be caved in on. The chamber glowed with a yellow light and the temperature rose dramatically, spurring the General into action.

"Time to go campers!"

It was a sign of how well oiled of a machine his old team were when without further prompting Daniel started dialing the 'gate home while Sam and Teal'c packed up what little survey equipment they'd set out.

"O'Neill," barked the Jaffa, his gaze up and to the right of the Stargate. Turning to see what had gotten the attention of the resident muscle, he was greeted with a yellow and orange body tumbling out of a crevice that had opened up to the surface.

"This was _supposed_ to be a cake-walk," Jack grumbled as the 'gate came to life, "pseudo-vacation to get me out of the office. But _no~_, nothing ever goes right even on a supposedly dead world!" Seeing that the boy -judged so by his features- was breathing, he tossed over his shoulder, "Let SGC know we're coming back with an extra that needs medical attention!"

Teal'c grunted as he threw the blond child over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, surprised at how much such a small boy weighed.

The four were gone within a minute, missing the ice melting revealing the once-chamber to the surface that now resembled a field of plants.

_**Surface, Yuki no Kuni**_ (Minutes before)

"What madness is this?!" roared Doto Kazahana as the treasure he had sought began its' work. His answer was a _Rasengan_ to the gut, sending him spiraling into the cliff wall resulting in a broken neck.

Naruto panted, having put everything he had left into that attack. Seeing his opponent down for the count -truthfully, dead if the odd angle of his head was anything to go by- he took in his changing surroundings. The ice underfoot was glowing a soft yellow as the heat generators performed their function.

The blond was unprepared for the ice to shift, making him fall on his right side. He could hear Princess Koyuki screaming for him, even as he managed to wave her and his team off. He was in a precarious situation and he knew it; thus he would be damned if anybody got hurt trying to bail him out of this mess.

Managing to stand with the shaking underfoot he turned, gave a thumbs-up to his watching team and charge, then took one step forward when the sheet of frozen water cracked right where he was going to put his left foot.

The crack took off in both directions, heading for the ends of the glacier as the stress from the internal melting became too much for the structure to handle. Within a second a fairly wide chasm opened up directly in front of him. He had time to throw a worried look in the direction of those watching -even the forgotten about camera crew that was still filming- before the ledge he was on crumbled.

He didn't have long to ponder this new issue as his head impacted with the ice, knocking him unconscious. The last thing he heard as his world went dark was his new friend demanding to be let go to try to save him.

_**Konoha, Hokage's Office; three hours later**_

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune charged through the door, a look of panic and grief on her face. "Emergency message from Team Seven!"

"Give me that!" the blond woman roared, sending her desk out the window as it was in the way. Her niece, as she saw her, fell over from the sudden movement of the Sannin-turned-Kage, the message scroll flying through the air to land in the cleavage of said woman. "Not what I had in mind, but . . .," she grumbled, fishing the message out of her shirt.

Her expression varied from shock, worry, awe and back to worry as she read. The mission was a bloody _S-Rank_, an entire country just had a change in leadership, Naruto Uzumaki was Missing in Action, something strange and _old_ had been found under the melted ice of the former Yuki no Kuni . . .

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_" Tsunade swung into action, knowing that there was going to be another interested party out there. She waited a moment for the smoke from her summoning to evaporate before looking at the messenger slug.

"How may I help you Tsunade-sama?"

"Message relay through the Toads to Jiraiya," her voice was harder than she wanted but one of her most precious people was in trouble. "I don't care what you are doing, get your ass to Yuki no Kuni ASAP. Naruto is MIA, and Kakashi has found something that might alter the balance of power in the Nations. If you are not there before me in five days I will ban your books in Konoha. End of message."

"Right away!" the slug bowed before poofing out of existence to do as requested. The tone of voice used was one that hadn't been heard by the Slugs since the Second War when Nawaki died. Somebody's head was about to roll, that much was for certain.

"Shizune!" the Hokage barked, before remembering that the young woman was still in her office. "Get me ANBU Team Four, have them ready to leave with me in an hour packed for a two week mission. While we are gone Asuma is to be in charge, the Council is temporarily suspended, and no S-Ranks are to be dispatched until I get back."

"R-Right away!" the poor brunette stuttered before fleeing from the office, knowing that her Sempai was in a foul mood. She hadn't seen her mentor this fired up in many years and wasn't about to try to talk her out of going. Even the Elders wouldn't dare try, not if they liked the ability to breathe on their own.

_**Tsuchi no Kuni, Unpopulated Area; Ten minutes later**_

"Message!" announced the small toad that just came into being, thankfully in the middle of nowhere. Jiraiya scowled at the summons before finishing his business behind a pile of boulders.

"Can't a man take a shit in peace anymore?" he grumbled, before sighing. If this was Naruto sending one more plea for training he was going to kill the boy, godson or not. "All right, give it to me."

His face paled to the coloration of a ghost when he was informed of the goings on. He knew his old teammate was serious to for she went for something he really cared about instead of just threatening him with bodily harm.

"We checked beforehand," the toad looked up at the older summoner. "Naruto is still alive but he is no longer within range for a Reverse Summoning. He might be able to bring us to him, depending on where his is . . . if he can. We have gotten permission from the Dogs to Reverse Summon you to their minion in Yuki no Kuni."

"Do it," was the immediate command, as the Sennin grabbed his belongings. Forget whatever it was Kakashi found, his godson was far more important. He had ignored the boy for thirteen years, wallowing in his own guilt and had just gotten to know him. There was going to be hell to pay for whomever took the son of his student.

_**Sunset, Yuki no Kuni, Daimyo Palace**_

"There are faint traces of footsteps leading up to the ring," Kakashi was saying before a cloud of smoke erupted next to his person. The next thing he knew was a fist impacted his face, sending him flying.

"Where is Naruto?!" boomed Jiraiya, having made his entrance in a style only he could. He noticed that Sakura and Sasuke were shivering in fear from his visage. He sneered at them, in no particular mood to put up with their usual shenanigans.

"We don't know," the leader of Team Seven managed to groan out, even as he massaged his jaw. His exposed eye widened when the Killing Intent let loose by his Sensei's Sensei made his displeasure known.

"Tell me what happened, and it better be _good_," the white-haired man growled. "Especially since Tsunade herself is coming."

"The Hokage . . . is coming . . . here?" Sakura squeaked, knowing that if Jiraiya was mad as a bull about the disappearance of The Dobe then the village leader would be infinitely madder. There was something about the blond boy that drew these powerhouses in and made them _like_ him.

"Show me where he last was as you speak," the Gama-Sennin rumbled, hoisting Kakashi up by his Jounin vest. He turned to give the two Gennin the evil eye. "You two stay here and keep an eye on your client."

"Hai!" they came to attention, not offering any resistance to the look being given them. Better their Sensei take care of the man's rage than receive any more that they had.

Koyuki had said nothing, her own worry about the blond that had changed her views taking precedence in her mind. Hearing that the Hokage was en route made her worry for another reason as apparently this Tsunade was close to Naruto and cared greatly for him. Would she and her country get blamed for his disappearance?

Kami Above, she hoped not.

_**Earth, SGC Briefing Room**_

"So much for the cake-walk mission as a send off," Jack O'Neill moaned, face-palming in disbelief. In all of the Off-World missions he had ever taken, _none_ had been a tasty treat. Something or another had _always_ gone wrong at some point.

"You're telling me, I was in the middle of the move to Washington," General George Hammond quipped before taking a drink of his coffee. "So; a thought-to-be dead planet is in fact, not."

"No sir," Sam Carter agreed, looking sheepish while she did so. "The child that literally fell into our laps wasn't dressed for the climate. How he didn't have frostbite in those open-toe shoes I'll never know. What it does tell us is that the rest of the planet has life and a civilization of some sort. Even though a gaudy orange, he was dressed in the equivalent of a tracksuit and had metallic weapons on his person."

"Eastern Asian weapons, to be exact," Daniel Jackson took over seamlessly, as the team had done this song and dance many times before hand. "I find it hard to believe but we may have stumbled across a planet's worth of ninja. It took some research but the boy was armed with throwing knives known as Kunai complimented by the ever-popular stars called Shuriken."

"Well, stealth does not need apply _everywhere_," Jack quipped, thinking of how hard it would be to hide in that orange monstrosity.

"Indeed," Teal'c gave his raised eyebrow of humor, showing that he got the joke.

"The only place he'd have camouflage would be a pumpkin patch," Carter couldn't help herself, before moving along. "We didn't get to see much beyond the ice before it started melting at a rapid rate. I believe it was a fairly large machine that did so, since we appeared to have been inside of a glacier giving more credence to a civilization of some sort."

"Other than a bump to the head," one of the nurses from the Infirmary was giving the medical briefing as a change in CMO was supposed to happen shortly, "he is in very good health. His body runs a couple of degrees warmer than ours do but this appears to be natural. There is an abnormality though that cannot be natural in any way, shape or form."

From a folder a copy of an EEG graph was passed to each person at the table before the nurse continued.

"There are two distinct consciousness' within our guest. We checked with an MRI, there is no symbiote or any over type of parasitic creature in his body. One is always at the surface, believed to be the boy himself while the other is almost within his subconscious. Then there was this that we found when we ran a black-light over his body."

This time copies of a photograph were handed out, showing a nearly invisible swirl surrounded by odd writing that took off in eight directions.

"While we think this might be a tribal tattoo of some sort we are confused as to why it isn't visible at all times," the nurse shook her head. "Since Asian languages are part of Foreign Relations One-oh-One at the Academy, we are able to understand part of what the markings say. We aren't completely certain of the translation though since some of the katakana appear to be different from those found here on Earth. We have the computers chewing on this image, finding matches to what we can. But . . . we have no idea what this is."

"It's certainly strange," Daniel agreed, his mind reviewing the characters to try to make sense of them. He already found one that appeared to say _'Maintenance'_ but that couldn't be right. Another thing he noticed was that several looked like they were overlapped in a bizarre fashion, serving some function.

Three in particular caught his attention. Each had the word _'Containment'_ but what really piqued his interest was the numbers attached to them. Two were at one hundred percent while the last, and biggest, was at eighty-five and showing signs of degradation. This one had an identifier attached to it, which was doubly strange in that it translated to the number nine.

His felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as old myths from the Orient came to the forefront of his mind. Tales of massive beings of energy that could be only be contained in a certain manner. He had blown them off as strange tales -even stranger than his original belief of the Pyramids- but his years at the SGC had taught him differently.

"I need to see this in person," his sudden declaration had the attention of the room focus on him. "About five years before I focused on the Egyptian Pyramids I studied ancient myths and legends of the East. They spoke of Raijuu and Bijuu, gigantic creatures made of energy that had roamed the lands some six thousand years ago, at least as that was when humanity discovered record-keeping. The stories that tie into the beasts varied, from a benevolent spirit in the shape of a five-tailed Tanuki to a representative of Death in the form of a two-tailed cat."

He paused, staring down at the photograph before looking back up.

"One commonality was about a Nine-Tailed Fox. Warnings were given about the _Kyuubi no Yoko_ being hatred, anger, malevolence and of all things chaos wrapped into one destructive package. I'll have to double check, but what the creature was said to be able to do . . ."

"What?" O'Neill pressed when his friend trailed off, looking pensive.

"Acts of God would be a comparison to a _Kyuubi_ on a rampage. Not the good kind, either."

"You do that," General Hammond ordered, wondering just what they had brought into the mountain. "In the meantime we'll just have to wait until the boy wakes up so that we can talk to him, for such a thing might not even exist."

_**Naruto's Mindscape; SGC Infirmary**_

"**I never thought I'd be back on this world**," Kurama rumbled to nobody, having 'borrowed' the boy's senses to determine where they had been taken. Speaking of, the host needed to learn a few truths. "**BOY! BOY! COME HERE!**"

"What'do'ya want you overgrown rug?" Naruto groggily answered his tenant, rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he phased into being. "I was dreamin' of Ramen, being Hokage, Ramen, several girls, being served Ramen by several girls while being Hokage . . ."

"**SILENCE!**" thundered out of the cage, effectively waking the blond up. How a complete dumbass such as this expected to get anywhere in life was beyond the ancient entity. "**You and I need to have a talk, boy. We are in a bit of a situation here, one that I find myself uncomfortable with**."

"What the hell could make _you_ uncomfortable?!" was rudely shouted for no reason. Really, his guest had ears the size of skyscrapers and could hear just fine.

"**For fuck's sake**," Naruto felt his jaw drop at the annoyance he could tell was coming from within the cage, "**you have to be the dumbest person in the galaxy. Before you even open your mouth LET ME FINISH!**" The last was bellowed out, as the host was about to lambast his tenant with the usual spiel of ruining his life etc et al. "**I know those baboons in your village didn't educate you. It is not your fault nor is it mine. It is theirs for thinking that by keeping you weak they were weakening me. BAH! We are two separate beings, the only thing making you strong ensures is that I'll survive longer.**"

"**Oh yes, I see you're intrigued**," the Kyuubi grinned, just to show off the teeth. "**As much as it annoys me, I'll clue you in. This seal is powered by the Shinigami, which took half of my soul the night I was put in here. When you die, what you see of me will go into the stomach of the Shinigami and remerge with the rest. Unfortunately, by that time, the Death God will be strong enough to contain me for all eternity. Originally, this wouldn't have been too much of an issue as at least I knew where I was going.**

"**When you fell down that crevice, you found something that hadn't been used in ten thousand years on your planet. You also found a group of humans -well, three humans and a humanoid to be exact. They, not knowing of me or our pasts, took us with them to their home . . . on a distant planet. One that I've almost forgotten in my long existence.**"

Naruto was confused, to put it mildly. He understood every word that came out of Kyuubi's mouth, but lacked the education to put it into the proper context. Some of that was nobody's fault for the stars were thought to be just that: random points of light in the night sky.

"**Good**," the massive form was impressed that the living prison didn't immediately go into a spiel or several. "**It's good to see that you **_**can**_** think, even with the hindrances in your life. The truth of my kind is a strange one. We were once one, a **_**Juubi**_** of massive power and unstoppable ability. Before that though, we Nine had evolved into the various forms on a different world . . . this world, to be exact. An important fact you should know is that we started out in life just as you did**."

"You were once . . . human?" the blond almost didn't ask, but was searching for the picture of what his tenant was talking about.

"**Fifteen thousand years ago, we were human yes**," the glowing eyes and reflective teeth sank back into the dark cage, confusing the boy further. Before he could voice his lack of understanding, the _click-click_ of somebody walking in heels echoed out of the darkness.

Naruto about fell over at what entered the light from outside the bars. Crimson appeared to be her color of choice: from luscious hair that went to her waist to her pouty lips that had gloss to her eyes to the ears on top of her head to the nine tails calmly waving as she walked. Even her attire, which looked like a kimono that did nothing to hide her busty figure, was a deep shade of red. He chanced a glance down and sure enough, her shoes were the same shade as the rest of her ensemble.

"**Like what you see**?" she struck a pose, settling her weight on her right leg causing that hip to jut out as her right hand settled on said hip. Her left leg pushed out of the gap in the kimono, revealing her cream-colored smooth skin to his purview. "**At any rate, this was the form I was born with. Well, minus the obvious animal traits. The Nine, in mortal life, were all female as a matter of fact. We were born on this world, in an island-country. All of us were actually friends back then, each looking out for the well being of others.**"

"**When we reached twenty years of age**," she sighed, drudging up old memories, "**we were approached by a faction of a galaxy-wide race. The leader of the group sweet-talked to us about Higher Powers and the usual radical religious spiel that at the time sounded good. We should have known that not all of that race were benign or benevolent. They were trying to amass power without having to follow the rest of their kind into Ascension. The leader spoke of a plague that had begun sweeping the galaxy, killing everything it came into contact with. We, who at the time were more in tune with Nature than them, could be a way for them to save everybody.**"

"**It was too good to be true**," her shoulders drooped as she relived a time long gone. "**They experimented on us in secret, away from the rest of their people. The first thing they did was fuse us with what you know as Nature Energy. When we lost cohesion as humanoids, they had the brilliant idea to meld us with animals. Once we stabilized, our new forms were massive. While we retained our intelligences, what defined use as human was lost. They, seeing us as a means to stop the plague, brainwashed us into being Destroyers of Worlds since they couldn't take in Nature Energy like we could. For four thousand years, we would be moved from planet to planet wiping out entire civilizations**."

Her eyes focused on him for the first time since she'd started talking.

"**We were discovered by the leader of the people when the plague hit their home-world. The one that had done this to us had tried to turn us loose which was what led to our outing. He and his faction were summarily dropped onto a heavily-infected world after every means of escape was taken from them. As for us, we had developed an immunity to the plague and a pseudo-immortality for nothing they tried could release us from this plane. We were taken to your planet, which had been isolated from the rest to prevent not just the plague from reaching it but as a place for us to live out our days.**"

She shook her head, knowing that she was being long-winded with her history lesson. "**Eight thousand years ago, after two thousand years of relative peace, your world was discovered by a race of parasites. They . . . were evil incarnate. We defended the people that had taken to us as Guardians, since we never let violence and wars get out of hand. Shukaku lost her sanity on the fifth invasion, for she ate one of the parasites that promptly infected her with its' genetic memory. We're not certain who did it, either her or the invaders, but we were pulled into one enormous being: a massive ten-tailed beast of unimaginable power. The parasite infected the rest of us while we were merged, turning us from defenders into a single berserker that slaughtered everything in our path. We could kill the invaders before they even reached the ground, so eventually they just stopped coming. For seven thousand years we were lost in the madness, rampaging across the land until a single man rose up to stop us: the Rikudo Sennin. We had no idea until he sealed us within his person that he was one of the faction that had created us, Ascended then Descended to try to correct his error. He treated us like the individuals we once were, fixing what he could of our personalities before returning us to the forms that had been forced on us as he died.**"

"You . . . have feelings," Naruto deadpanned, wrapping his mind around the concept as it suddenly appeared in his mind. He had heard various emotions in her voice, even if her face betrayed nothing. Everything that he had learned about the various Bijuu was a lie, and this truth was one giant horse-pill to swallow. "Uh, we'll talk about that later. Is there anything else I should know?"

"**Not until we get home**," she shrugged, "**since anything else I have to say pertains to the night I got sealed in here**."

_**Five Days Later, Yuki no Kuni; 0800**_

While the intrepid hero was having a life altering discussion with what he found wasn't supposed to be the bane of his existence, the situation in the last place he'd been was fluid.

"What the fuck is this?!" Tsunade couldn't help herself, her eyes falling on the 'Ring' for the first time. Jiraiya was in her face within a heartbeat, looking as serious as she'd ever seen him.

"This thing is positively _ancient_," the white haired Sannin turned his head far enough to the right to look back at the device. "Neither the Toads nor the Dogs know what this thing is. At least, that's what they claim. I say that because both have mentioned that this thing was here _before_ the Bijuu . . . long before."

Two of ANBU Team Four, which happened to be a combination Heavy Assault/Interrogation squad, moved from the sides of their Hokage to approach the at-a-glance stone ring. They were wary of any traps, even if the Gama Sennin had approached the object many times over the past few days.

The soil on the side they approached had a slight inwards curvature in line with the bottom of whatever it was, as if something large had scrapped the ground away. Within the scraped earth were footprints that originated from nowhere at the ring. What was strange was that the ground _behind_ it was untouched, showing where the top of the ridge had been.

"This is easily defendable turf," Tsunade caught onto the scrutiny her ANBU were giving the surroundings, realizing that whatever it was she was looking at was on a rise. "No cover for half a click in any direction, uphill to the objective which would provide some cover for whoever was holding it . . . even that cliff a kilometer away would be good for an overlook to monitor the approaches."

"Well, regardless of whatever this thing is," Jiraiya huffed, almost pouting at a mystery that he had no clue how to solve, "Kazahana-dono and her people have nothing to do with it. I know you brought Ibiki and Anko along to verify it but I can tell you that the Princess is more concerned about Naruto than," he waved with his right hand at the ring. "The only person who might have seen it is long dead: the former Daimyo and Koyuki's father."

"Yes, I imagine that heat generator had to get down there somehow," the blond woman quipped, looking from the crest of the ridge to said device fifty meters away to the right down near the bottom. "Even if he saw it, he probably would have been just as confused as we are about it and left it alone."

"Well, _we_ don't have that luxury," her old teammate rumbled, looking like he wanted a fight. "It makes no sense but from the center of the ring there are four sets of footprints going outwards. Three men: one, very muscular and heavy -definitely a fighter, another heavily trained in combat and the last confuses me. It looks civilian yet at the same time speaks of training or at least knowledge of being wary in unknown situations. The fourth was a female, also trained in mission operations. When they go back in towards the object the big guy was carrying extra weight like another person with him, more than likely Naruto."

It always amazed Tsunade that the once-Dobe of her graduating class had turned into such a magnificent Shinobi . . . when he was being serious at any rate. Of course, threaten or take something precious of his and watch the destructive mayhem that ensues.

"What about?" she shook her head slightly, shaking off the feeling of dread whenever Jiraiya on a rampage entered her mind. Her right hand index finger was pointing at what looked like a stone mushroom. The symbols on its' top surface matched the ring, giving away that it was not a naturally occurring formation.

"The melting ice washed it clean," he grumbled, knowing without elaboration what the question was. "so if that operates the device we have no clue which sequence to use. It looks like a combination lock to a safe, but without knowing the correct input order we could end up blowing up the planet or something."

He had no idea how _accurate_ his words were . . .

"It's been five days since he disappeared," her voice softened, eyes glistening as tears threatened to fall even as her gaze settled back on the ring. "Damn that loud-mouth knucklehead, but he reminded me of the dreams lost and _rekindled_ them. To be blunt, I'm keeping the chair warm for the gaki whenever he gets his act together and grows up. And damn it if he doesn't look like his father . . . a couple more years and he'll be beating the women off with a jutsu."

"I know how you feel," Jiraiya moved to stand on her left, right arm draping over her shoulders in a quasi-hug. "I just got to know the last link to my best student. I have many regrets, and almost all of them revolve around that dumbass kid. You and I . . . we're going to have to sit down with him when we get him back and find out why his is the way he is. At least, intelligence wise. I like his personality as it is."

"Part of that issue we can take care of right now," she turned her head to the right as Kakashi warily approached. He was well aware that his popularity with the two powerhouses was plummeting.

Seeing the look the pair were giving him he just _knew_ he was in for another lambasting.

_**SGC Complex, Earth; 1000 Same Day**_

"This has got to be the _dumbest_ idea you've ever had," General O'Neill deadpanned, giving Daniel the 'Why are you stupid?' look. His old friend had been in self-imposed exile, brushing up on his Oriental languages in an effort to understand the strange markings on their guest.

"Don't worry," the archeologist turned galaxy-explorer tried to assuage his old team leader, "I can do this, I think."

"Ugh, famous last words," Jack quipped, his own understanding of what looked like Japanese entirely too rusty for his tastes. "Just don't fuck this up Daniel. If what you say is in there and in fact does as 'myths' and 'legends' proclaim, and you release it . . . I'll kill you. Painfully."

"No stress," Samantha Carter smirked, knowing that her Commanding Officer wouldn't really go _that_ far. The two would more than likely pull some miracle move out of their ass, save the world -yet again, such a common theme- then go for a few rounds in the boxing ring.

"Indeed," Teal'c delivered his private joke punch-line, internally laughing his ass off at the look on Jackson's face as he was ganged up on.

"Right, here we go," the man in question looked around the emptied storage room, save for the blond boy laying on the concrete floor naked as the day he was born. He did notice that Sam was trying her hardest _not_ to look at said early-teenager. Daniel couldn't blame her; every time his eyes swept over the nude form of the boy his sense of inadequacy flared. _Lucky bastard!_

"Everybody to the booth," he continued, moving over to kneel next to their latest guest. Taking a deep breath, he sought out the part of his mind he had ignored after playing 'yo-yo' with Ascension. He had told nobody of this, but he could still utilize his internal energies to an extent. At the time the rogue elements of the NID had made him stay quiet; then as time wore on he just didn't have the chance to experiment to see just what he could do.

Part of the reason he had been incognito for five days was him getting in touch with said power. He couldn't do much, but if what was thought to be a tattoo turned into what he now believed it was then he should be able to effect some repairs.

Glancing at the lexan window of the temporary observation booth, he set to work. Operating on a hunch, he went to the place marked _'Maintenance'_.

"Holy buckets!" Carter barked in surprise as the entire room -walls, ceiling, the door and all- were suddenly covered in the strange katakana. There were lines of text everywhere intermixed with bizarre symbols that had no basis in a language.

This was a case of the flagship team of the SGC messing with something they really shouldn't. At least, until they were well versed in its' operation and the consequences of tinkering with an unknown. Every eye was focused more on Daniel than the pair of Containment cells -conveniently located above their heads on the ceiling- that suddenly went from full to empty.

_**Mindscape, same time**_

"What the hell?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head, having just bounced it off of the floor after being knocked over. Glancing around for the source, he found a pair of people standing there gazing at him. The red-haired woman he had no clue about.

The blond-haired man in a white sleeveless trench coat decorated with yellow flames on the other hand . . . oh yes, he knew who this was.

"Something is wrong," the Yondaime looked around, expecting the Kyuubi snarling at him about escaping. Instead he was met with a rather calm situation, his wife, his son and . . . no giant fox.

"**Kushina**," Kurama recognized her immediately from their one meeting. Seeing that the parents of her prison looking at her in surprise she rolled her eyes. "**If you had ever bothered to talk to me like your **_**son**_** is then you would be far more enlightened as to the goings-on at the time. But **_**no~**_**, the evil Fox must be treated like an animal**!"

"Hey-hey-hey!" Naruto was having none of the attitude, even as he made a note to grill the pair in a moment. "You weren't in your right mind either! All that people remember is the rampaging death, thus their fear of you snapping for no reason in their eyes prevented them from ever talking to you!"

"**That is true**," the woman behind the bars of the cage admitted with a sigh, shaking her head from side to side. "**It's the concept though; such arrogance to automatically believe that they are right without seeking proof. It's a universal constant amongst humans no matter what planet they're from. Trust me, I know**."

"What?" the new arrivals were justifiably confused, not having any idea as to what was happening in the real world.

"**It seems that your boy has gotten himself into a bit of a pickle,**" the human form of the Kyuubi smirked, amusement plain as day in her eyes. "**While being on a different planet is one thing, whoever is messing with the seal has no clue what they're doing otherwise the two of you wouldn't have been released.**"

"I'd like to know why they're here to begin with and who she is," the blond child pointed at said woman, earning frowns from the adults.

"Sarutobi, you cowardly piece of shit . . .," the Yondaime grumbled, clenching his hands into fists then relaxing them again before addressing his son. "I can tell just from looking at you that the village dishonored my request. You look like you're twelve yet I know more time than that has passed. I guess I'll have to start from the beginning then."

"My name is Minato Namikaze," he had paused, gathering his wits, "Yondaime Hokage of Konoha, husband of Kushina Uzumaki and father of Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze."

As soon as the last word left his lips he folded over with a rush of air forced out of his lungs courtesy of the fist buried in his gut. He didn't have time to contemplate the pain as a knee rose up into his face, making him land on his back from the force of the blow.

"Fifteen years of hell!" Naruto raged, leaping on top of his hero to deliver punches to the head. "The scorn and suffering I have endured all because you had to choose me! No true friends, nobody willing to teach me, no idea if my parents abandoned me because _you_ just had to use me as a storage container!"

"That's enough!" Kushina sprung into action, having seen her temper from the outside for the first time. She had discovered just what everybody else had whispered about when they thought she couldn't hear.

Uzumaki's lived up to their namesake.

Naruto truly lived up to his name, more-so than any of the fallen clan before him.

The boy had stood, panting from the effort of trying to control himself. His glare never left his father's face, making what he felt of the situation known without words or further actions.

"I deserved that," Minato coughed, getting his bearing back before sitting up. "I chose you not for the village to have a weapon or scapegoat nor for the world to be rid of Kyuubi. I chose you because, even as I looked at your minutes-old self, I _knew_ you were destined for greatness and I believed in you. My instinct told me that not only would you make a name for yourself but that maybe, just maybe, you could even redeem a Bijuu or several along the way. I saw what you did to Suna's Jinchuuriki; not only did you beat the crap out of him but you also got him to change his outlook in life. That is the power I saw when you were born."

"You . . . believe in me?" Naruto went from angry to confused, having only heard those words from one other in his life. Not even the man he looked at as his Jiji had said that, although he may have hinted at it and it went right over his head.

"We both did, from the moment you arrived in the world," her words earned the attention of both blonds, showing they were father and son when they moved in sync, without trying, to gaze at her. "We still do, even though we only get flashes of the outside when you draw on your guests' power. That you do what is right over what is easy shows your character, even with all of the obstacles that have been placed in your path."

"Where have my manners gone?" she suddenly blinked owlishly, having gotten into the chance to talk to her son. "The name's Kushina Uzumaki, wife of the knucklehead Yondaime and your mother."

The reunion of the family that never got to know each other in life was interrupted when Naruto grabbed his head, yelling through clenched teeth at the sudden pain. Before either parent could find out what was wrong, they too gripped their heads from a sudden and massive headache.

"**Oh fuck me,**" Kurama groused, seeing the seal that contained her shifting around. Whoever on the outside that was messing with it had just made an error. That's when the pain hit her, driving the ancient entity to her knees as her skull threatened to explode.

Whatever had just happened caused the four to blend in a way that under any other circumstance would be impossible. Not even the Yamanaka Mind-Walking Techniques could compare for the four for all intents and purposes downloaded into each other.

For Naruto who, until Iruka entered the scene, never had a decent teacher this was a boon. Everything his parents had known in life he now knew, at least in theory. Putting it into practice was going to take some intense training, not that he minded that. Some of the things he could do without, like the knowledge that his Kaa-san preferred to be shaven down below and what a female orgasm felt like.

He grunted then smirked, knowing that he was bigger than his Tou-san made his day.

Then the extremely long life of Kurama crammed itself into his rapidly filling skull, threatening to overload his psyche. Everything that she had ever seen, done and experienced made the life-style of his parents pale in comparison.

_**Outside the seal**_

"Damn it Daniel!" O'Neill barked, ducking as what appeared to be a glowing gold _chain_ of all things whipped over his head. "Whatever you just did, undo it!"

"I'm trying!" the target of ire in the room grunted, leaning back as a hand holding a sphere of energy rose out of then fell back into the boy's stomach.

"Now would be good!" even Carter was miffed, which never led to good things for the archeologist. She yelped as a black-tipped tail swished by her face close enough to tickle her nose.

"How unusual," Teal'c was the island of calm in the Maelstrom, left eyebrow quirked upwards as a copy of the boy appeared to launch itself out of his torso before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"Got it!" Jackson sounded triumphant when the sudden mayhem of appearing and disappearing body parts ended just as it started. He took a moment to gaze around the room, taking in the unhappy faces glaring back at him. The temporary safety booth had been the only true victim of the madness, laying shattered on the other end of the room.

"Right, finishing up," he turned back to his 'work', not even attempting to defend his position. It was only when the Seal returned to its' compact configuration did he notice that the pair of extra containment cells were empty.

"Uh, that uh . . . that can't be good," he mumbled, finally understanding the scope of the disaster he had just flirted with. "Somebody want to plug him back into the EEG? I have a feeling I did something I wasn't supposed to."

"No shit," O'Neill deadpanned, trying to calm himself after the near heart attack from the sudden explosion of activity from their guests' stomach.

"Y'know, one of these days we're going to mess with something we can't fix," Carter just had to get it out there, earning glares from her more expressive teammates and the patented '_Jaffa Deadpan Stare_' courtesy of Teal'c. "Right, just saying . . ."

"Beyond the obvious, did your voodoo work?" Jack put the conversation back on track, even as his right eye watched the nurses that had been outside of the room fussing over the kid.

"It did _something_," Daniel was entirely noncommittal, shrugging his shoulders for extra emphasis. "I'm not about to go poking that again, for the sake of all of our sanity."

"Whoa!" came from the other side of the room, earning the attention of the flagship team. They first looked to the nurse that had shouted before following her line of sight to see their guest clinging to the ceiling like a spider.

Fifteen feet off of the floor no less.

"How the hell did he get up there?" Carter's eyebrows made a bid for freedom by attempting to leap off of her face.

Her answer wasn't forthcoming as the blond started yelling at them in what sounded like a cross between Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Tibetan, Mongolian and of all things English. Then he noticed that he was naked and flashing the females in the room, causing him to fall from his perch only to land on his head before springing back up like nothing had happened. Faster than anybody could track he had the lower half of his tracksuit on, making all present wonder just where that came from and if he owned more than one copy of that monstrosity.

Naruto, for his part, was completely confused by his surroundings. When he had been forcibly awoken by being ejected from his mindscape by his guests, the first thing that had greeted his return to the real world was an attractive nurse attaching wires to his head. Having been plugged into a similar machine more times than he cared to count he kip into a back-flip over her head, before retreating to the ceiling when he noticed that there were a dozen people around him.

He used his shouting as a cover to his taking stock of the situation. Nobody was armed with anything he was familiar with yet he could tell by their stances that these people were trained in the art of hand-to-hand combat. It was during his self-check for his own weapon supply that he discovered his Mini-Me swinging in the breeze.

It was fortunate that the storage seal he had insisted his Jiji put on his right arm hadn't been tampered with. He had a spare pair of pants in that seal for situations such as this where he would find himself in female company without apparel.

The storage seals on his left arm he left alone for the time being, so as not to draw attention to the fact he had an Armory's worth of steel on his person. Listening to the people talk back and forth, he could only grasp every seventh word if he was familiar with the subtext of what they were saying. Hearing a mental grunt of exertion, he noticed that as the people around him talked the more he understood.

Apparently his tenant was a Universal Translator on top of being an engine of destruction and several other titles.

It was as he stood still that he felt a mental pull. For some reason he felt like he was being called back into the seal.

_**Naruto's World, same time**_

Eight individuals suddenly stopped whatever it was they were doing, each looking to the sky as their tenants had gone completely still. The hosts were only aware of this as they were far more in touch with their guests than the Ninth.

"**She's done it**," Matatabi, otherwise known as the Nibi, had slipped into the communal consciousness to talk to the other Bijuu. "**Kurama's actually done it!**"

"What is this?" the monotone of Gaara brought the attention of the eight onto his person before he noticed the other human representatives.

"Since when could the Bijuu talk to each other?" Yugito Nii looked lost, even as her head acted like it was on a swivel taking in her surroundings. Counting herself, she took note that there were a Tailed-Beast and Host missing.

"What have I done?" Yagura had fallen to his knees, clutching at his head. The young Mizukage had felt the Genjutsu he had been under break thanks to this sudden meeting of the minds.

"**Damned Sharingan users!**" Isobu, the Sanbi's true name, growled as the massive head shook side to side before focusing on the host. "**Yagura, we are going to have to flee Kirigakure now that we are free. There's no way the people will accept us after all of the pain we've caused**."

"What the hell is going on?" Fu demanded, bringing all attention onto herself. "Why are we meeting like this Chomei? How are the others even able to see us?"

"Whee! Kirabi is in da house!" never one to miss an opportunity to meet new people, the boisterous mountain of muscle announced his presence the only way he knew how.

"**Bee, shut up**," Gyuki, known more commonly as the Hachibi, smashed the host with one of the massive tails. "**This is far more serious than you can image. One of our number has returned home after ten thousand years**."

"There's more of you?" Roshi felt his jaw drop, unable to comprehend what a tenth Beast would be like.

"**Oh goddamn it, that hurt**," all eyes beheld a beauty sprouting nine tails with a set of crimson fox ears on her head. When she took notice of the entirely white surroundings did she know where she was. "**Hello all!**"

"**Kurama, this is not a chat room**," the giant Son Goku grumbled, four tails swishing in aggravation. "**That is irrelevant however. Tell us, why have you gone back**?"

"New people, awesome!" a recognizable character popped into being beside Kurama. Some knew him personally, others could see the resemblance between his parents and him. "Yo! Naruto Uzumaki is the name!"

"Still cheerful as ever, eh Naruto?" Gaara deadpanned while keeping an eye on the silent Shukaku.

"You doing all right there?" the blond fearlessly walked up to the new Kazekage, even as the giant Tanuki next to him whimpered. "Oh, I see you remember the last time we tangled Shukaku. You been giving your host a break or do I have to repeat my performance?"

It was hilarious seeing the three hundred foot tall Bijuu wave its' arms in front of itself in a placating gesture. "**No, no; we're good! I've behaved! Please, don't spank me again!**"

"**We're getting off track here**," Kokuo, the Gobi, loomed over the forms of Naruto and Gaara. "**What have you done, boy? Why is it that we can sense Kurama has returned to the place we were banished from**?"

"**That's not how it happened and you know it**," she was quick to defend her container. "**Can you all get into your human forms? Craning my neck to look at you all hurts like a bitch!**"

A blinding flash of light later and the males present were in awe of the beauty around them. The pair of female containers felt jealousy as they were suddenly ignored.

Each color of choice matched that of their Beast forms.

Shukaku favored shades tan. Her rounds ears perched on her head, the eyes of her larger self, the dirty-blond hair that cascaded down her back and the modified kimono she wore. Even her footwear, what would be a tennis shoe, was a shade of tan. The kimono looked to be a size too small, as it barely covered the firm-looking fairy large breasts while only going as far down as her mid-thighs. Even her skin was a tan color, giving her an exotic look.

Matatabi apparently liked sky-blue. Even though her larger-self had black splotches and stripes, when she was looking human she went with her primary coloring. Like her 'sisters' she had ears on the top of her head, cat ears in her case. Her hair was a lighter shade of sky-blue that traveled in waves down her back that matched her eyes, which looked like a cat's. Her attire earned a blush as she was in a sports bra and spandex shorts, both a darker shade of her favorite color. The bra, or as Naruto thought of it a 'one piece stretchy wrap', strained to hold itself together as the medium-large breasts underneath made their bid for freedom. The shorts showed off her hips, ending just above her knees. Her skin was alabaster, making her color of choice stand out even more.

Isobu was of the teal persuasion. Her hair was different in that instead of cascading down her back it was in a page-boy style with the right-side bangs covering the missing eye. Being that her alternate form was a tortoise, her ears were the more standard human variety on the sides of her head. Her clothing choice matched her personality, being a one-piece bathing leotard that hid nothing from the imagination. Her own breasts strained the material, even if they were only medium size. It was also a darker shade of teal. She chose to have bare feet, so if she went swimming in this form she could just jump straight in. Her skin was pale, a couple of shades lighter than Matatabi making her hair and remaining eye stand out.

Son Goku, obviously misnamed somewhere along the line, looked like she was a fan of the color brown and its' various shades. Her hair was shorter than Isobu's, making her ears appear larger than they actually were. Being that her Beast was a Great Monkey -thus, providing a hint at her name coming from a fan of a certain manga- her body was more muscular than her 'sisters'. Her clothing of choice was similar to Isobu's in being a one-piece body suit two shades lighter than her hair and eyes. Her breasts were the largest yet, almost the size of Tsunade Senju. She too went without footwear, so that any workout she undertook wouldn't be slowed down by getting them off.

Kokuo and Saiken shared color schemes, in that both of their bigger forms were white. The human-form of the Six-Tailed Slug made up for the similarity by having sea-foam green hair and eyes while her Five-Tailed Dolphin Horse compatriot had sea-blue eyes and hair. Even with skin slightly off-white, they were clad in white business suits and white business shoes. Their attire hid their figures, except for the flair of their hips and the outline of the outer sides of their breasts.

Chomei was an oddity. Her larger self had two colors: her upper half featured a blue exoskeleton while her lower had yellow wings/tails. In a fit of pique, she stuck to that scheme as her upper body had blue eyes, hair that went mid-back and a blue tank-top that might as well have not been there for all of the covering it didn't do. Her breasts were almost completely visible, showing that they naturally rode high and close together giving her a deep cleavage. Her lower half was a pair of sunflower yellow short-shorts and sandals, showing off her legs. Her skin tone represented her outdoors nature as it was a golden coloration, not as deep a tan as Shukaku though.

If Chomei was the oddity, Gyuki was downright boring. Slate grey was her choice of coloring, keeping in line with her other form. She even went so far as to have a pinstripe suit in her colors of grey and white. Her hair -that went down to her shoulders- was a lighter shade, nearing the white spectrum while her eyes were darker nearing the black. Like Kokuo and Saiken, her body shape was partially hidden under her choice of attire although it accentuated the flare of her hips and the sides of her breasts.

"Well damn," Naruto exhaled, shaking his head in disbelief at the human forms of the Bijuu. "Wow . . . just, wow. I thought I'd met some good looking women in my travels but the nine of you . . . yowza! Makes me glad Ero-Sennin isn't here otherwise I'd never hear the end of it."

"**It's nice to be appreciated, no matter the form**," Gyuki deadpanned, arms crossed under her breasts. "**Completely irrelevant to the matter at hand but nice. Now, tell us just why Kurama is no longer on this world**."

The other eight humans had no clue as to the topic of conversation. In all truth, they had even been unaware that their tenants even _had_ alternate forms to use.

"**At least we now know that the Communal Mind functions over interstellar distances**," Saiken, the scientist of the Nine, had already produced a star-chart from nowhere. The hosts looked at it and noted that it was far more complete than any they had ever seen before. Although in the climate of constant wars and one-upmanship astrology had never really taken off. That looked like it was going to be changing rather quickly if the current happenings were anything to go by.

"**I'm on the original world not by choice**," Kurama cut into their thoughts. "**It's not even the fault of my container. We just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The location of the Gate had undergone climate changes since the last time we were there. In fact, I'd say that the deceased Daimyo of Yuki no Kuni **_**repaired**_** the Ancient heat generators. There's no other plausible way that the rest of the civilization has the technological means to melt an entire glacier in five minutes**."

"Naruto," Gaara corralled his friend, taking note that the other hosts were surrounding them having gotten lost in the techno-speak already.

"I know even less," he cut their line of inquiry off. "I wasn't aware when the people on the other side took us through. In fact, I woke up not too long ago after having a talk with my parents."

"Whoa there!" Yugito waved her arms side-to-side. "How could you have talk to your parents when you're not even, according to them, even on this planet?"

"They died the night Kyuubi got sealed into me," he gave the half-lidded look at her, making her squirm a bit. "While they were dying, my father sealed bits of themselves into me as a secondary measure should anything go wrong with the seal. Somebody on this world messed with it, releasing both long before they should have been. They are still around . . .," he trailed off, concentrating on something before two new people came into being at his sides.

"_You!_" roared Roshi and Han, eyes taking in the sudden appearance of their worst nightmare.

"Flee for your lives!" Kirabi turned to run, wanting away from the woman that had nearly killed him the last time they crossed paths.

"They're echoes! For fuck's sakes, did I not say they were _dead?!_" Naruto bellowed, earning the attention of not just his parents and hosts but of the Bijuu in conference off to his left. "I carry their echoes in my seal, which I can access through my mind! Put two and two together already!"

Minato and Kushina hadn't so much as twitched since their sudden appearance in the white space that was the Communal Mind of the Bijuu. They were in fact too surprised from their appearance in a place outside of the seal to do much else for the time being. Their eyes were going back and forth, taking in everything in front of them though, showing why they had earned their ranks.

"This . . . is different," the Yondaime groused, left arm reaching up so he could scratch the back of his head.

TBC

A second pilot fic I've been working on (and off) over the period of six months. This one will either go on or be scrapped depending on how well it is received.

A big shout-out to all the readers/reviewers. You people make writing fun, even those that have bad things to say.

Until next time, Ja Ne.


	2. Part Two

Disclaimer: I make no claims at ownership of any copyrighted characters, places or events used herein. The only thing I make a claim to is this fic, which originated in my head and any original characters created by me herein. The following was made for public consumption at zero profit, and is not for sale except to the owning companies. Yes, I dream big.

_**Special Notes**_: I always forget to mention this, but unless I specify otherwise people are in their canon outfits.

Star Sage, Part Two

By: (Driver) Jim Ohki

_**Earth; SGC; Converted Storage Room; 1345 local time**_

"Hello~?" Daniel Jackson waved his hand in front of the blond-haired boy's face that had gone into complete stillness. It was like he was somewhere else entirely even though his body was right in front of him.

"The lights are on but nobody's home," Jack O'Neill quipped, reaching around his friend with his right hand to push the kid in the chest. Surprisingly, the target of his actions didn't so much as twitch. "Nurse, grab the kid and hook him up."

It took but a moment to reveal a problem. The nurses, while in shape as military training demanded, weren't able to comply with the order. Teal'c wandered over only to meet similar results.

"It's like his feet are glued to the floor," Sam Carter kneeled down to insure that wasn't the case. Those that had worked with her before said nothing to her choice of position as she sat on her haunches. If the child looked down he was sure to get the wrong idea.

"Well, at least I can now look at these," Daniel moved to his left around his friend on the floor to peer closely at the strange tattoo he hadn't noticed beforehand on their guest's right arm.

"All right," O'Neill sighed, looking at the nurses standing around. "Hook him up standing then since I'm not about to have my nice floor cut apart to move him." Compliance was forthwith, only to confuse everybody present.

"The hell is going on in that skull?" one of the three NONCOM nurses grumbled, earning the attention of the new base CO. He had seen enough EEG graphs in his time in the mountain to have a vague understanding of what a normal one should look like. The one he was looking at was far from normal.

"Daniel . . .," O'Neill's tone indicated that he was about ready to take the man for a few rounds in the boxing ring.

"What the-?" even the archeologist turned explorer/diplomat/combat expert was confused by what he was seeing.

"This is new," Carter drawled, having risen to take a look herself. While astrophysics was her specialty, her own time in the SGC and friendship with the late Doctor Frasier had taught her some medical knowledge. What she was looking at seemed to be impossible yet the proof was in front of her eyes.

"He's gotta be in communication with _somebody_," she continued, her surprise letting the language skills of her immediate boss slip through. "This actually looks a bit familiar . . . ah. Oh dear."

"Gate-Keeper?" Daniel caught on, remembering that particular mission with distaste. The chairs they had gotten from that world produced something similar in regards to brainwave activity when two people used them at the same time.

"Ugh, not _that_ again," Jack groaned, hands rising to rub his face.

"At least in respect to the communal mind part, yes," Carter shrugged. "How he's doing it without the aid of the chairs or any technology I know of is beyond me."

"Are you telling me that he," O'Neill hooked his left thumb in the direction of the shirtless blond kid who couldn't be over thirteen, "is in communication with _others like him_, on his world?"

"Very probable, Sir," Carter went formal to show how serious the situation was to her. Jack O'Neill knew his old team well enough to read her tell in an instant.

"Great, culture contamination," Daniel sighed, having drawn his own conclusions. It was one thing if the flagship team of the SGC did a face-to-face meet and greet as they could get a feel for the locals without giving too much away. In this case, they had nothing to go on.

_**Bijuu Communal Mind; Same Time**_

"Impossible," Yugito Nii declared, giving her tenant the half-lidded look of disbelief.

"Um, no it's not," Naruto piped up, earning a glare for his troubles. "I mean, we," he gestured between himself and the human form of Kyuubi, "are _on_ a different planet. Before coming here I was able to see where my body is. They have nothing that looks remotely like anything in the Elemental Nations. If only I could _show_ . . ." he trailed off as the white space around them turned into the room he had observed in his brief moment of wakefulness. It was frozen in one spot, when he had been on the ceiling maximizing his view.

"**Well, this is new**," Saiken was looking around, so it was hard to see who she was talking to. "**Projectile weapons of unknown power, technology further advanced than this world and . . . is that a Jaffa**?"

"**The state of the Galaxy must be chaos**," Son Goku crossed her arms under her breasts, slightly lifting them. "**It seems that the Second Coming of the Ancestors is in full swing**. **These humans have apparently taken the fight to our ancient enemy, if they can get them to defect from their so-called Gods**."

"**It gets better**," Kurama gained the attention of the others. "**Several times I heard the word **_**Atlantis**_** spoken in reference to how they found our world**."

"**That ship is in another galaxy**!" Kokuo, the astronomer of the Nine, looked beside herself at that information. If it was true then the humans of their birth world were finding the left behind technology of the Ancestors.

"There was one word I barely heard," Naruto brought all attention to himself again. "I don't know what Asgard means but-"

"**Just what have those humans **_**done**_?!" Isobu thundered over the rest of what he was saying, looking panicked. Even though her form was the Sanbi, she was the diplomat of the group. "**First our enemy, then the Ancestors and now the **_**Asgard**_**?! That makes connections to **_**two**_** other galaxies they have!**"

"Things are going to get lively, aren't they," Kushina spoke up for the first time, her mind trying and failing to process the overload of information.

"**I guess we'll have to talk to them,**" Kurama ignored her former host in favor of keeping the topic on track. "**We need more information as to the state of affairs . . . everywhere, really, and determine if we are going to be affected by them**." Even though she was the Enforcer of the Nine, she was the only one in position to carry out the First Contact.

"We have no choice but to inform our villages of this, you know," the massive frame that was Han joined the fray, averting his eyes away from the echo of the Yondaime Hokage. He figured that the saying 'out of sight, out of mind' would work best in keeping his temper in check. "This involves far more than one village or nation against the other. The stakes are _far_ too high for petty infighting now."

"Unfortunately, I believe that those that seek power will act," Minato chimed in, using his time as Hokage as a reference. He knew he had had enough issues with Danzo Shimura alone, forget the equivalents of the old War-Hawk in the other villages.

"Yes, if you tell your various leaders what you have learned here the only result will be war," Yagura, being the only Kage alive present, knew too well what his Council would pressure him into regardless of his previous actions. "A war unlike any seen before as the Samurai Legions will no doubt get involved once the Daimyos learn why the Shinobi are fighting and what for."

"**The Stargate**," Gyuki rumbled, catching on to the unspoken words of the Third Host.

"Naruto," Minato grabbed the attention of his son, "you said that you were with your team when you fell into the crevice. If I know Kakashi he sent word to Konoha within hours of your disappearance."

"Really?" the sarcastic reply was not lost on any of the observers. "I honestly had no _idea_ that he _cared_ . . . oh, wait. It's just because of my passenger that he would report me missing. Can't lose the village weapon after all."

Minato, Kushina and Kurama winced at his tone, the underlying accusations plan as day.

"Bah," the blond boy carried on ignoring their twitch, "at least by doing so Tsunade-Baa-Chan will know what happened to me. She might even clue Ero-Sennin in as I know those two actually give a shit about me. Maybe. Sometimes, its damned hard to tell."

Yugito and Kirabi were in silent communication, disbelief coming from them in waves. It just seemed impossible to them for the village to alienate their Guardian as they might be needed one day. Fu, on the other hand, knew exactly where Naruto was coming from having had just as rough a life as he.

"That's not quite where I was going," Minato found his voice, now truly understanding that his final wish was blissfully ignored. "What I was thinking of is that Konoha may _move_ this Stargate from its' previous location, especially if they can see any strategic value for it. From the sounds of it, our world doesn't possess any means of destroying the thing if its' been around for a few million years."

"**They wouldn't dare**," Chomei entered the fray, looking entirely displeased. Of the Nine, she was the one that understood the 'Gate the most. "**If they managed to get it to detonate, the resulting shockwave would wipe out two-thirds of this planet. No, they'll either set it up in a secure facility within the village walls or bury it somewhere**."

The reunited family, even if in spirit only, wandered away from the others to have a private talk. The conversation between Bijuu and Host was starting to go around in circles, which was not constructive in the least.

"I see that I failed you, son," the Yondaime had his game-face on. "I didn't understand just how deep that failure went until the topic was brought up. I won't even try to justify Sarutobi's thinking by allowing the treatment you suffered to go on. Whatever you decide to do, I support with all that remains of my being."

"I most certainly am not about to run away like some coward," Naruto looked fierce at his declaration. "Fifteen years, I have put aside everything the people of the village have done to me. Ero-Sennin has been hinting at taking me out of Konoha for a training trip anyway, so why don't I start now? Knowing him as I do, he'll give me the bare minimum of a technique then expect me to figure it out on my own. That's not enough . . . not _nearly_ enough. I need _training_, not vague hints."

"What about Tsunade?" Kushina looked hurt for her boy, since he refused to do so himself.

"In truth, I can't get any adult to take me seriously," he shook his head, not wanting to show how much the memories actually bothered him. "I know I haven't helped my cause by wearing neon orange and being as loud as I can. But to paint the Monument in broad daylight without being caught until I wanted to be should say something right there. I fought Orochimaru of all people, more than once and came out alive. Hell, I fought _Shukaku_ herself and lived to tell the tale, forget emerging victorious."

Really, the people of Konoha had no idea as to the diamond in the rough they had in Naruto. His stealth was off the charts and to be able to take on a Bijuu, even if it was the One-Tail, and _win_ just screamed untapped potential.

"Then we're just going to have to train you ourselves," his mother now looked like a tomato, her face red in rage at what she understood of the situation.

"Now that I think about it, why hasn't our chakra run out?" Minato had been ready to rejoin the rest of himself in the belly of the Shinigami. For some reason, that hadn't happened and he was starting to question the goings on.

"I just got you back, I'm not about to let go so soon," Naruto glared at his parents, daring them to tell him otherwise. "I had noticed that you flickered a couple of times, revealing that you are chakra constructs of your souls. Rather than sit around and mope about losing you just after getting to know you, I wrapped the pair of you in chakra bubbles preventing what you have left from bleeding off. When I am ready, I will let you go as Death is a part of Life. That, and I'm not about to anger the Shinigami any more than I have to."

"**Naruto**," Kurama interrupted their talk, "**it's time to return to your body. We need information on the humans that have taken you to their world, and you're the only asset we have on scene. Don't you worry, you'll get your training . . . and then some. But for now, we must go**."

_**Yuki no Kuni; Seven days after disappearance; 0930 local time**_

"We have to take this thing with us," Jiraiya was well aware of the fact that Tsunade couldn't be away from the village for too long lest word got out; both internal and external threats made it a reality. The Gama-Sennin was ready with a special Fuuinjutsu that could support the size and estimated weight of the device. Or rather; he hoped that the seal array could handle the strain, never having had to put something that big into a storage scroll before.

"Yes," the Godaime Hokage agreed with his reasoning, knowing herself that if she dawdled too long then the Elders would start asking questions that couldn't be answered by Shizune. She was also aware of the fact that she was about to catch hell from them and the Councils for losing their trump card on a mission of dubious nature. She could feel the migraine already building and needed a drink.

"Don't you worry, we'll get the boy back," her old teammate read her mood easily, one of the few who could. Surprisingly Naruto himself was another, even if he showed it differently.

"He may not even want to come back if it's better on the other side," she had to get that out there, even as a full-body shiver made itself known. While she didn't doubt the blondes' character, she was also a realist in that if he received the treatment he was long overdue for that he might just make his sojourn permanent.

"Oh no, he'll be back," his confidence was not displaced, having more interaction with the boy than she did on a personal level. "He's too damn stubborn to simply throw in the towel. On the other hand, this gives us an opportunity to actually do what the Academy and Kakashi should have done to train him without interruption. We can even sow some confusion in the ranks of our enemies by using the old Deep Cover protocols."

Tsunade fell into thought about it, as by using those protocols on the only _Jinchuuriki_ they had could invite the other villages to attack them openly. Broken down into basic components, Deep Cover involved officially declaring a person lost and presumed dead, the seizure of their belongings –to go into storage, not that the public would know- and informing the village as a whole about the loss of one of their own. She frowned at that, as it would reveal his heritage to the masses that were still unaccepting of him.

"I cleaned out _his_ place years ago," Jiraiya was apparently a psychic –or a Yamanaka- as he could now read minds. "Nothing important will be lost, not even the sole family portrait that was above their mantel. If he gets into contact with me, I'm sending it all to him as it's beyond time that he knows. Don't worry your pretty head too much, I'll increase the depth of my Network so that any whiff of activity by the other Villages we'll know."

"What about his team?" she wasn't about to leave loose ends if this was to work.

"ANBU secrecy seals should do the trick," his gaze bored into her own. "If it comes to it, we'll use the design Danzo came up with. Very effective and damn near unbreakable."

"Do it," she approved after several moments of thought. "Seal the ring and controller first, then Team Seven. I'm leaving Kakashi here until you're done with your work, give him the container scrolls before you head out to upgrade your Network. I've got to get back to Konoha and break the news . . . damn it, I need a drink." _And a nice fuck_, she left that part out around her present company, knowing he would try to be the one to deliver. She was off to collect her ANBU team, leaving Jiraiya to smirk at her retreating back.

'_Lucky bastard Naruto, doesn't even know what he's missing out on_,' he thought, before getting to work himself. Damn that godson of his, having all these women pining over him yet being too clueless to do anything about it. Something else to get on the Academy and Kakashi for, it seems, as such ignorance was an easily exploitable weakness.

_**SGC Converted Storage Room; 1600 local time**_

"Sirs, I think he's coming around," one of the nurses got the attention of the base CO and his XO, waving her right hand at the person in question.

"How many times am I going to be hooked up to these damn machines?" the blond groused in accented English, something that he hadn't been able to do the first time he had awoken. "Oh; ouch. Leg cramp!" Just like that, he was sitting on the floor rubbing at his legs.

"I like him already," O'Neill grinned, seeing some of himself in the boy. He would rather eat a bullet than be caught in that orange injustice to the world though. Something else that grabbed his attention was while the young man massaged the cramps out of his legs his eyes were wandering around, taking in everything and subtly disconnecting himself from the EEG.

"Hello there," Daniel swung into action as the First Contact Diplomat.

"Uh, hi," the blond eyed the man wearily, having no previous encounters of the strange kind to help him here. If it weren't for that big guy that looked like he came from Kumo lurking over his shoulder he felt he would be able to get out of any jamb in a quick order.

As Jackson started talking, introducing himself and those around him O'Neill drifted away a bit to observe the kid's reactions. Other than people and the specific place, he seemed to know which planet he was on already which shouldn't be possible. Not if their 'Gate was long buried and forgotten at any rate.

"My tenant has an interesting story," Naruto, having introduced himself, was advised to be honest with these people if he wanted a chance at going home. He noticed that other than raised eyebrows the reaction to the knowledge he was a _Jinchuuriki_ was nothing like in Konoha . . . or anywhere else in the Elemental Nations for that matter. There were no looks of . . . any negative emotion, really. All that he could read from their facial expressions was intrigue, curiosity and a genuine desire to learn what he knew of his society. He told them almost verbatim what Kurama had told him in regards to how she came to be.

There were things he left out; each too personal to share with a group of, for all intents and purposes, strangers.

He learned that he had been taken through the Stargate, whatever that was as he had yet to see it, as they had believed that the glacier they were inside of was going to collapse on their heads. He was surprised to hear that he had been unconscious for the better part of a week, having apparently bounced his head off of the ice more than once on his way down the crevice.

"I need to send a message home," he sighed, not really looking forward to the prospect, "to let them know that I'm still alive and in one piece."

"Wouldn't you rather _go_ home?" Carter held nothing against the young man. Rather, she was trying to understand what was going through his mind.

"Not overly," was his honest answer, complete with a shrug of his shoulders. "Things there aren't the greatest and some time away from them will do me some good. Not that it matters much as . . . somebody I know was gearing up to take me out of the village for the next three years anyway."

"It wouldn't be too hard to dial your world," Daniel used his experience with other species in place of arguments, something that got under the skin of many in the military.

"We think the 'Gate is on the move," he clutched his stomach to emphasize his point, "to either Konoha –my village- or to a burial site. Until I can establish communication with . . . my people . . . I don't recommend that action."

Anybody who knew Naruto would be scratching their heads, wondering where this intelligence came from. That and this serious, able-to-sit-still side of him that he rarely showed. This was what he had hidden from the Village as a whole as a means on minimizing their anger towards his person. While he pulled pranks and generally made a nuisance of himself in his youth to gain attention, he also entrenched the belief that he was a simple, one-track minded rube. When combined with his tenants minds, this aspect of himself took over seeing that nobody around him was behaving as he was used to.

"Then just how do you intend to get in contact with your people?" O'Neill had his right eyebrow raised, wondering just what they had truly stumbled upon.

"Like this," he bit his right thumb hard enough to draw blood, earning frowns all around before his hands blurred into motion. Being that he was sitting down all he had to do was slap his bloodied hand on the ground with a bark of, "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_"

Those in Stargate Command had seen and been through much in their tours of duty. Watching a child that looked no older than thirteen but was actually fifteen bring a toad of all things into being from nowhere was not something they had encountered before.

"Yo," Gamakichi waved his right foreleg in a lazy greeting while looking up at his summoner, imitating a certain pug. "It's good to see you Naruto. When we got word from the Dogs about you disappearing we were worried."

"And now I've seen everything," Jack O'Neill balked, taken completely by surprise by the talking amphibian. His comment led to another round of introductions for the sake of the small toad, which had migrated into the arms of 'Boss'.

"'Kichi, I need you to tell Tsunade that I'm fine," Naruto brought all attention back to himself, "and that I'll be back when I can. That is, if she doesn't bury the 'Gate. I intend to do my training here if I'm allowed, so she should consider my trip started."

"_**Yosh!**_" the toad showed more emotion than his greeting before leaping into the air from Naruto's arms to go back whence he came. Having had the opportunity to look up a couple of the skirts present may have improved his mood. Got to love military non-combat uniforms.

"That was interesting," Daniel shook his head, giving up on wrapping his brain around yet another oddity found by the SGC.

"You were going to ask me about staying . . . when?" O'Neill didn't look too happy at the moment.

"Well, uh," the blond stalled, looking for the answer, "I know I'm stuck here at least until I hear back from the village. It'd be kind of hard for me to leave if they are moving or have buried the 'Gate, after all. So, I kind of figured . . . well . . ."

"Look, don't just assume," the recently promoted General softened his expression. "There are protocols that we have to follow for all of our off-world visitors in regards to letting you roam around the base. Granted, Danny-boy here already flubbed some of them messing with that . . . seal-tattoo thingy."

"So he's the one I have to thank?" the young man turned his head to look at said man. Surprisingly to those listening, there was no sarcasm or scorn in his tone. "I'm going to go out on a limb here. It appears that on the night of my birth, when the Kyuubi was sealed into me, that my parents left pieces of themselves in the Array. Whatever you did released them sooner than they had intended, which allowed me to know my family for the first time in my life."

"You're an orphan," the archeologist stated instead of asked, his own expression showing a shared pain. He didn't see Jack or Sam wince as the topic was brought up, one which always managed to light a fire under their friend.

"Yeah," Naruto could see the familiar loneliness in his eyes. "But something else you did . . . how to describe this?" he suddenly turned his head left then right, looking for a reference that they would understand. Off to his right, one of the nurses was mumbling while working on a tablet, trying to do a 'copy and paste' whatever that was. As the term seemed to be common, he went with it.

"I'm not certain how you did it," he turned his attention to those gathered around him, "but whatever goof you made copied everything from my parents and Kyuubi then pasted it into my own mind. The same thing happened in reverse, duplicating my memories and giving them to my tenants."

He felt a bit of satisfaction having worded his explanation correctly as understanding came into their eyes. Only the Yamanaka, that he was aware of, had any idea as to the inner workings of the human mind on his world. Well, them and that sadist Ibiki at any rate.

"That shouldn't be possible," Carter was off in her own world, having directed a thousand yard stare at the corner of the room to her left. To her, it sounded more like the function of an Ancient Repository only without the loss of personality or the need to stick one's head inside.

"Rut roh," Jackson had his Scooby Doo moment, now aware of the colossal disaster he had narrowly averted.

"Will you tell us about the others like yourself?" Sam had come back to the land of the living, turning to another topic that needed answers.

"All right," he had zoned out, having what appeared to be an internal dialogue for a few moments. Naruto told the story from the Bijuu point-of-view, going into greater detail about their origins. He didn't fail to notice the ever-quiet Teal'c stiffen at the mention of extra-planetary invaders coming by ship that were parasites. The tale had apparently sparked a buried memory in the Jaffa, one of the many tales circulated through their society of yet another planet the Goa'uld feared to venture to.

"Your world must have longer years than Earth," Carter had procured a tablet from somewhere and was accessing the server in her lab. "I say that because the Ancients _returned_ from Atlantis ten thousand years ago by our calendar, long after the Galactic Plague had wiped out almost all life."

"Kyuubi says the days are twenty-nine hours long and that one orbit of the sun takes . . . four hundred days," the blond supplied, never having paid too much attention to a detail such as that.

"Just under fourteen months per orbit," the attractive blond woman was talking to herself, inputting the numbers into the tablet to get a conversion. "Which translates into a difference of eleven thousand four hundred ninety-four years, putting events over thirty thousand years ago. That makes more sense to me at any rate."

"My tenant just grunted at me, displeased to learn that she is older than she thought," Naruto looked amused at that little factoid. "But at the same time she says that for some reason time within the Galaxy had slowed to a crawl at some point, throwing everything out of whack."

"Damned Asgard time dilation!" O'Neill grumbled, reminding the others of his presence. It would make sense though that they would slow time within the Milky-Way so as to find a cure for the Plague before it went extra-galactic. The General took in the incredulous looks and mumbled to himself, knowing that this was why he appeared to be a joker all the time. Nobody liked Serious O'Neill after all.

Or the other, single L guy for that matter.

_**Hokage's Office; Twelve Days since disappearance; 0800 local**_

"That's better," Tsunade had wasted no time rushing back to the village, knowing that the pressure was on Shizune and Asuma to hold the fort. Now ensconced behind her desk, she took a moment to chug a small bottle of sake before having to deal with the Elders and the Councils.

"Damn gaki, better appreciate what I'm doing for him here or I swear I'll rip his cock off and shove it up his ass," she mumbled, mentally preparing herself for the confrontation ahead. She had half an hour before the meeting, to which she took advantage of by getting her notes together and getting a nice buzz going.

"Message!" announced Gamakichi as he materialized, looking bewildered. She studied the toad, trying to figure out what had ruffled him so.

"Let's hear it," she leaned back in her chair, expecting this to be from Jiraiya. She could be excused for spit-taking her sake across her notes when instead it was from the subject of her many thoughts . . . not all of which were pure.

"It was the strangest feeling," the young toad offered his opinion after delivering his message. "Almost like being squeezed through a hose. Wherever he is, is a _long_ way from here, in a bunker of some sort. The people there . . . they felt almost like the First Ones."

She shivered, long forgotten tales from her youth coming to the forefront of her mind. Records going back beyond the Clan Wars were scarce, having been lost for various reasons. One of the two constants were stories of the First Ones, bits and pieces that made no sense as no Clan had dared to share what they knew about them. The other were vague mentions of parasites, coming from a far-away place by ship trying to invade their world only to be turned back time and again.

"Go find Jiraiya," the Hokage came back to the current goings-on, "and let him know that you've been contacted. From now on, be aware of your surroundings as we are going to initiate the Deep Cover protocols on Naruto."

Gamakichi balked, giving Tsunade the fish-eye look of disbelief. Rather than argue the point with someone who wasn't their summoner he instead dispelled himself to alert the Elder Toads of current events. They were already displeased with Konoha as a whole, and he hoped that what the busty blond woman was thinking of doing was for the right reasons.

"Here we go," she muttered, getting out of her chair to head to the council room early. She wanted to get a read on the Elders and Councils before they tried to rip her a new one.

_**Konoha Council Chambers; Same Day; 0830**_

Tsunade had played her cards correctly for a change. Since Team Seven wasn't back in the village yet nobody had any idea as to this sudden meeting. The Shinobi and Civilian Councils were giving each other odd looks, trying to understand why the other was there. Interspersed with that were gazes at the Elders, each sitting stoically showing nothing even though they had nothing to go on at the moment.

"Good morning," the Hokage led off, hands clasped in front of her face to hide her expression. "This meeting of the Konoha Leadership has been called due to events in Yuki no Kuni, triggered by the B-Rank escort mission assigned to Team Seven."

Various murmurs traveled the crowd, but none spoke up.

"The mission turned out to be an almost perfect reenactment of their C-Rank to Nami," she continued, earning more than a few raised brows. Details of the Nami no Kuni mission were known by all, a bottom-end C-Rank that turned into a high-end A-Rank due to the client lying. "As it turns out, yet another client lied to us in regards to the scope of the mission. We were dragged into a coup by what we now know to be rebels opposing Doto Kazahana, in which they wanted to overthrow his rule and place the daughter of Sosetsu Kazahana, Koyuki, in her rightful place. This mission, a public coup de tat, should never have even reached my desk. The damage is done however; Doto is dead, Koyuki is now the Daimyo of Yuki no Kuni."

More murmurs rippled through the Councilors, as this was the second time Team Seven was in the thick of a change of power in the public arena. Konoha was, no matter how unintentionally, overreaching and they all knew it; especially as word traveled around the other Villages. Even Danzo felt like he should scale back operations for a while to let things cool down.

"Unfortunately, we lost one of our own," Tsunade dropped the bomb, bringing all conversation to a halt. "Naruto Uzumaki sacrificed his life to terminate Doto Kazahana, being crushed before his body was washed out to sea by the melting ice."

"You _lost_ our weapon?" Danzo came close to sneering, barely holding his face in the usual neutral expression.

"Shimura, fuck you," came from Tsume Inuzuka, her eyes blazing. She didn't know it, but her reaction had generated a distraction. "The gaki was never some weapon to us and you know it. Yes, I admit what he held kept the other Villages in line to a point. But we never _trained_ him properly in how to be a Shinobi, forget tapping into the vast power of his . . . tenant."

"I told that fool Sarutobi-," the one-eyed Elder was interrupted by a slap to the face from the least likely source. Koharu Utatane looked more lively than she had in years.

"Don't speak ill of the dead," she barked, showing that even though she was nearing seventy years old she was still able to rumble. "I can admit that Hiruzen's ideals worked far more than yours ever could. We never needed a brainless automaton that had to be ordered to do _anything_. We got almost exactly what we needed in a bright spirit that would do whatever was required to defend the village, regardless of how the populace treated him. That boy is responsible for no less than two alliances with the possibility of a third. His charisma was able to turn any enemy he encountered bar Orochimaru and his lackeys."

"What are we going to do now?" Shikaku Nara was wide awake, shocking those that knew his habit of sleeping through these meetings. "As troublesome as it is to bring this up, without the body we don't know where the Kyuubi has gone. No matter what, the balance of power has shifted in the Nations."

"Why are we even here for this?" Sakura's mother, Sakuri somehow kept a straight face even though she had been one of the louder voices in the 'Anti-Naruto' department. She was not stupid though, having a bad feeling about the news of her daughter's latest mishap.

"The Civilian Council is here because of the loss of funds from two investing Clans," Tsunade was glad for the topic change, not wanting to focus on the lack-of-body issue. Nearly every eye opened wide as such loss was a humongous blow to the Konoha economy. "With the loss of Naruto, all investments being drawn from the Uzumaki and Namikaze accounts is forthwith stopped and any future withdraws and deposits are denied as the accounts are considered frozen. Protocol demands that they are held for a period of no less than one hundred years to allow any unknown Heir a chance to claim them if they can prove a blood relationship."

"That's thirty percent of our operating costs!" the village treasurer barked, drawing all eyes onto his person. "Those accounts are _huge_ and there is no way the other Clans can pick up the slack!"

"Why is the Namikaze account frozen?" Inoichi Yamanaka could feel his wallet getting lighter already. He knew that the Uzumaki account would go to Naruto in time, as his birthright but the other threw him for a loop.

"Do you honestly not know nor figure it out on your own?" the Hokage glanced around, directing the question to the entire room. When nobody answered, she sighed before producing two pictures and putting them side-by-side.

"How the hell did we miss that?!" Choza Akamichi was beside himself almost instantly, seeing the resemblance between father and son.

"Fuck me sideways," Tsume face-planted into the table, her own disbelief plain for all to see. A long forgotten memory tickled her mind, a contract involving her daughter and . . . the future son of the Yondaime. How the hell could she forget about that?

Hiashi Hyuuga was silent and stoic in the face of current events, at least externally. Internally, however, his mind was going as fast as it could trying to digest the information dumped on his head. Events surrounding his eldest daughter, the loss of his wife and brother had forced a similar memory to Tsume into the back of his brain. Oh, how was he going to break this to sweet, gentle Hinata? The poor girl already had confidence issues and this might just crush her.

He made a note to speak to the Hokage as soon as possible though as something else was teasing his mind. Not once had the blond Senju said that Naruto was _dead_. She just called him lost, which was a very specific term. Catching the eye of the Inuzuka Matriarch he subtly sent her a message with hand-signs.

Inoichi, seated between them as they were at opposite ends of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio intercepted the non-verbal communication. He too had a contract with Uzumaki, even if he'd rather not get his daughter all riled up. Deciding that the entirety of the Shinobi Council had to be present he nudged Shikaku on his left and Choza on his right to pay attention.

Tsunade herself could see the hand-signs going back and forth, cluing her in to the fact that the Clan Leaders weren't about to let this issue drop so easily. She already had a document from Suna that she'd rather not think about involving Temari. There was another from Nami, a third from Teuchi Ichiraku and a yet-to-be opened missive from Koyuki herself on the pile that she wanted nothing to do with either. The Deep Cover protocols were never meant to be used on the last of a Clan, known Heir or not after all. She had her own issues to add to the conflagration, a long-standing contract between the Senju and Uzumaki that would just muck up the works.

'_I really need another drink and damn it all a nice lay_,' she mentally groused as the Chambers came to life as the implications of what the loss of Naruto Uzumaki actually meant to Konoha.

_**SGC; Thirteen Days since disappearance; 0900 local**_

"So I was right in that your entire world is made up of ninja?" Daniel was clarifying his thoughts with Naruto over breakfast. The way the kid ate just screamed 'abused' as he wolfed the food down so that nobody could take it away.

"Nah," the blond had the decency to swallow first before talking, seeing no threat to his sustenance. "There are Hidden Villages which are more akin to cities that have Shinobi Corps, the Capital Cities of the Nations that have Samurai Legions, various towns and small villages that share militia and a boat load of civilians all over the place."

"Sounds like a military structure to me," Jack got out between bites of his Fruit Loops.

"No," the youngest person in the base made his argument. "There are only five levels of Shinobi. There's Gennin, like me. Fairly new to service, some solo experience but nothing much to look at. Usually led by an experienced Jounin-Sensei. Then there's Chuunin, at least a couple years of all-around experience, team leadership skills for the occasional Gennin Team when they sub for a Jounin. There are sub-levels of the Jounin: Special, Regular and Elite. The Tokubetsu Jounin are specialists in their field of choice, but have a weakness that prohibits them from obtaining full rank. The Elites are the powerhouses, just short of Kage level. They have numerous years of service in, taking the higher-risk deployments. Then there's the ANBU which really are a bunch of cannon fodder these days. They used to be the Best of the Best, but something happened to change that. There is no individual ranking in ANBU; either you are in or not. At the top are the Kage, the strongest of the Villages."

"What about the Samurai?" Jackson was fascinated with what he was hearing.

"From what I've observed," Naruto had gotten more food down his throat, "they follow more along the lines of your own rankings. Private, Sargent, Lieutenant so on and so forth. Same can be said for the smaller militias as they follow the Legion's ranking system."

"Could you slow your eating please?" Sam looked green at the gills watching the blond boy impersonate a vacuum cleaner.

"Ah, sorry," he blushed, using his fork to spear his sausage.

The flagship team of the SGC had noticed that he had avoided mentioning specifics. Deciding to leave well-enough alone, breakfast continued in silence for a while.

"Can . . . will you give us a demonstration of what you can do?" Daniel was finishing off his coffee and was trying to learn more.

"I guess," young Uzumaki had never had such a great start to his day before. While he was bummed about there being no ramen on the menu for breakfast he shrugged it off as unimportant for the time being as there was much else to focus on. "I need to train anyway, haven't done so in almost two weeks."

He wouldn't say it out loud, but he felt that something was wrong. While he was still enthusiastic about meeting new people, being in new places and generally wanting to train he just couldn't, for the life of him, _show_ it. He had a hunch that this was more along the lines of his father's personality showing through. Although he had taken note that every time he talked people listened, giving his positive reinforcement to not having to shout to be seen. It was a novel experience for the lonely boy to be certain.

"How big of an area do you need?" O'Neill, being recently put in charge of the base, wasn't too keen on letting their guest top-side yet. Since he had awoken it had taken subtle persuasion and hints to get him to talk, even with his military-esque training. Granted, if their positions were reversed he knew he would be the same way towards his hosts.

"Outdoors would be nice," was the immediate reply, "if at all possible. Part of my training involves trees . . . lots of trees. Maybe a boulder. Definitely some moss to add to the challenge. A water source helps out too."

Exactly what the General didn't want to hear. The biggest room, bar the 'Gate Room itself, was the Gym. A recent project that didn't get much attention, the place was a new sub-level to accommodate its size. Other than load-bearing pillars and the perimeter wall it was a huge space that had a pool, the Boxing Ring, the weight-lifting machines, a running track and the basketball court with plenty of open spaces between. It had yet to be opened for use, seeing that the occupants of the base were content with what they had and weren't too keen on sharing workout space.

The intention behind it was for future expansion, to train entire Battalions that would be stationed off-world for entire tours at a time which would have similar facilities built. This way they would be used to tripping over each other, wardrobe failures, somebody having a bad burrito and other tomfoolery that goes with a large crowd of men and women sharing the same space.

Time to compromise.

_**The Gym, Sub-Level 30; 1000**_

"This . . . this'll work," Naruto was stunned at the size of the Gym. He knew he was underground as he had yet to find a window on any of the levels he had been on. Seeing this open space, only marred by the occasional eight by eight by twenty foot pillar brought a smile to his face. The track was perfect for stamina/endurance training, the pool excellent for Water Walking, the supports for the level above for Surface Clinging, the Jacuzzi for relaxation, so on and so forth. The basketball court confused him, not that he was worried about having to use it as the open spaces between each area could be used for pretty much anything he wanted.

Once he had taken in the one hundred fifty by one hundred fifty meter room, he turned back to his . . . he didn't know where to categorize them yet. They were too friendly to be guards, not friendly enough to be friends, more than acquaintances yet didn't play the part of interrogators.

It was maddening.

"I can't practice anything destructive down here but for everything else this is perfect," he went on as his mind went through the copied memories of his internal guests. Anything Kurama had to offer was out straight away as being just too much in a confined space. Same went for any long range jutsu his parents had known. Everything short to mid-range however was open for experimentation.

"Here I go!"

One blond became five hundred one, nearly filling the room with himself. The lack of warning had startled his observers who found themselves in a sea of blond hair.

"All right boys, listen up!" the original barked at his clones. "One hundred each: Surface Clinging, Water Walking, Rasengan, Chakra Chain and Chakra-Fuuinjutsu practice!"

"**YOSH!**" roared the crowd of the same person, immediately setting to work with an enthusiasm not found outside of a certain Jounin and his mini-me.

"How . . . what-?" poor Sam felt her brain attempt to melt at the physics defying displays around her person. Her eyes traveled around the room taking in the copies on the ceiling, on the water, forming balls of energy in their hands, forming the chain that had nearly taken Jack's head off and others seemingly writing in thin air.

". . .," Teal'c was silent, his mind racing trying to remember old legends. The Goa'uld had more than their fair share of planets that they avoided for one reason or another. The stories that traveled through the Jaffa varied, blurring fact from fiction. The memory that had been tickled the day before was being elusive, making the man a bit paranoid which as anybody knows is never a good look for a Jaffa. What he was seeing the boy do was apparently something new as he couldn't recall ever hearing of abilities like these.

"I've _got_ to learn that trick," Jack's eyes sparkled, seeing the defeat of his bane in his mind's eye. Commanders Universe-wide had the same problem it seemed: paperwork. The evils that were involved with the processed remains of trees scarred every person to have ever encountered this enemy.

"That's . . . different," Jackson was lost for words, something that rarely occurred these days. Having been Ascended and Descended twice used to be tops on the list of the strange and bizarre that had happened to him before. Since young Naruto woke up he found he was having to rewrite the definition every hour it seemed.

_**Naruto's World; Fourteen days since disappearance; 1400 local**_

Spy networks all over the Elemental Nations had gone haywire at the news coming out of Konoha. One Naruto Uzumaki, _Kyuubi Jinchuuriki_, was presumed dead and his heritage was revealed to all. Those that knew the boy personally were hit the hardest while those that loathed his existence felt relief at the news.

In Suna, Gaara had no idea how to handle his distraught sister without telling her the truth. Temari had taking a strange liking to the boy after the events of the _Chuunin Exams_. Kankuro was simultaneously walking his brother through the knowledge and being a shoulder for her to cry on. The redhead felt his resolve crumbling, not knowing how to say what was most important to the blond girl at the moment.

In Nami, the entire village/country made plans to march to Konoha for the scheduled funeral. Tsunami was a mental wreck, having pushed her father into making arrangements to be with the young man that had touched her –and by extension, her son Inari's- life during his mission there. Tazuna was a bit useless in consoling his daughter, having lost his wife and her mother years before hand to disease. Inari himself had almost reverted to his old self, only his experiences under the reign of Gato preventing his backslide.

In Kiri, events in another village were overshadowed by their Kage publicly admitting to being manipulated under a Genjutsu to kill every Bloodline he could. He offered no excuses, only apologies and the wish for somebody else to take charge as the Godaime as he felt himself unfit for duty. Mei Terumi, leader of the Rebels, had been in the crowd and quickly stepped forward which surprised no one. She was famous for her opposition of the Mizukage and battle prowess, leaving her as the shoe in replacement. When she was briefed by Intelligence of the goings-on outside of Kirigakure, she felt her heart break and made immediate travel plans to Konoha. A bit of the old Uzumaki legacy had survived in her family since the fall of Uzushio, a bit that she would never see come to fruition.

Kumo and Iwa were a mess. Their respective Kages were beyond angry that the sole child of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki had flown under their radar for his entire life, even with the public events surrounding the boy. Both Villages were dusting off old war plans now that the Kyuubi was lost to their long-time nemesis. The build-up would begin immediately, even though their Shinobi Corps were lacking in numbers. Civilian children were pressed into the Academy's and harsh training for those already enlisted took center stage. They would be ready in four years to make another attempt to finish Konoha.

Ame . . . oh dear. Obito, known as Tobi or Madara, was on a rampage tearing up any and everything in his path. Whatever had been left of his sanity had fled the premises at the news delivered by Zetsu as losing the Kyuubi ruined all of his plans. Plans which included dealing with the last of his Sensei and that bloody _Will of Fire_ crap spewed by his birthplace. Nagato –Pein to those that didn't know him outside of Akatsuki bar Jiraiya- wasn't about to let his now former boss have his way with his hard-fought for home. When the man had lost control of himself he had revealed that he was using the organization as a means to an end, fully intending to betray them at the right moment. It was also a shock to find that he wanted the _Rinnegan_ for his own, not wanting to go through what his ancestor had to get it.

Itachi Uchiha had taken the smart route, getting out of the danger zone as he knew he had no chance against either powerhouse. Kisame Hoshigaki followed his partner, aware of his own limits despite his own skills and _Samehada_.

The rest of the Akatsuki joined the fray on the side of Pein, having heard the ramblings of their most mysterious member and not liking it one bit. The recovering village was once again thrust into a sudden internal power-play, scattering civilians and Shinobi alike.

Konoha itself was on the verge of Civil War. The Shinobi that had worked with or seen Naruto in action on one side, those that had wanted him gone on another with those wanting nothing to do with either side caught in the middle. Tensions were high as random fights would erupt between those mourning and those celebrating, leading to a busy ANBU Division. Tsunade and the Ruling Councils were doing everything they could to quell the in-fighting as word was already trickling in about Iwa and Kumo gearing up for something.

It was into this mess that Team Seven stepped, caught unawares by the utter chaos that had erupted in their home. Kakashi had told his remaining students to not say a word to anybody for the time being, taking the ANBU secrecy seals a bit further. Sasuke couldn't really care less as to the goings-on, instead wanting to go home and relax for a bit before resuming training. Sakura had wanted to hunt down Ino to find out what the mayhem was about but the order put a stop to that.

"We need to report in," the silver-haired Jounin directed the teens through traffic, taking in the Mexican Standoff on the streets. All three noticed that Ichiraku's was closed for some reason that escaped their immediate notice. That oversight was quickly corrected by a passing civilian.

"Good work!" the man praised, thinking it was the Sensei that had done the deed. "Most excellent, getting rid of that damned-"

He didn't get to finish as a random Chuunin came sailing in, punching the man in the face sending him flying. Several armed civilians approached to back-up one of their own as even more Shinobi arrived on scene. The ANBU were quick to follow, landing between both sides and barking orders even as Team Seven walked by.

"Goddamn people," Tsunade grumbled, downing yet another jug of sake. She hadn't wanted to go out there and personally get violent as that could lead to a rebellion by the civilians. If she had known what the Deep Cover protocols would do in regards to Naruto she would have never even considered it. Her thoughts were interrupted by Kakashi opening the door, gesturing his two remaining students inside the office.

"Just give me the transport scroll, your report then get out," she was in no mood to deal with this particular Team, being the source of her headache. Having traveled to Yuki no Kuni herself, all that had to be spoken of was the lack of anything interesting after she had left. The scroll was plopped rather unceremoniously on her desk, earning a baleful glare for the lack of decorum and care.

"It's bad out there," Jiraiya came in the window the second the door shut behind Team Seven. "My Network has gone berserk at the latest movements of . . . just about everybody, really. Almost the entirety of Nami will be here in three days. Koyuki is already on her way, even if she knows more of the truth than anybody else. There's a delegation from Kiri on the move, which will arrive in two days. The Sabaku siblings have left Suna and should be here in a day and a half. Kumo and Iwa have accelerated their programs, gearing up for war. Most likely with us, as both É and Onoki have grudges with Konoha. This was one of the worst ideas I've ever had . . ."

"You couldn't have known what the reaction would be," the Hokage understood why he had trailed off, her own issues crowding her mind. "Even though he hadn't met _that_ many people he still had an impact on his surroundings. There has to be a way to salvage the situation, one that if it doesn't avert war will delay it until he comes back."

"Being the keeper of Minato and Kushina's stuff," he leaned back against the wall, deep in thought, "I know about the various contracts that were made before they died. While I know that there are even older ones out there," he ignored his old teammate shifting around uncomfortably, "that could be useful to us . . ."

"What's going through that head of yours?" the blond woman wasn't liking where he could be going with this.

"While we keep to our course," his right hand rotated around in the _I'm still thinking_ gesture, "with the rest of the world we bring those with contracts-"

"Are you serious?" she interrupted him, her thoughts confirmed. The Hokage just _knew_ that there would be issues with his patch-fix idea along the lines of _the more that know, the greater the threat to security_.

"We need something to keep the balance afloat as long as we can," he had his game-face on again, something which always spooked the Senju. "Granted, there's nothing to stop Kumo or Iwa from lashing out at us but if we were to "reaffirm" our current alliances they would pause to consider the risks of attacking."

Tsunade could see the logic behind his words as 'that something' needed to buy them time. She mulled the idea over while standing, grabbing the scroll off of her desk.

"We might have _other_ allies to call upon," she waved the rolled-up paper in her left hand to emphasize her point. "That is, if we can get them to agree to help us . . . well, so long that the gaki hasn't filled their heads with rubbish at any rate. The _area_ is ready so let's head over there and set up this thing."

"There are resources in the Village that you could use to clean house, so to speak," he brought another issue to the foreground, one that she knew she would have to deal with at some point. It would help her cause if she got Danzo under her control, and she had just the task in mind for Né.

"Convincing him won't be too hard," she thought out loud as they walked, taking in the standoff occurring in the village proper. "We can even use them as a distraction to what we're really doing without cluing him in."

It was beyond time for Konoha to return to its former glory, beginning with the removal of the spies of their enemies . . .

TBC

There it is, a new installment of a piece I was uncertain about. This was rather refreshing to produce, even if I glared my laptop into submission a few times trying to decipher what I was trying to do.

As always; two thumbs way, _wwwaaaaaayyyyyyyy_ up to the readers/reviewers who make writing worth it. Ja!


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